According to one legend, the Emperor survived, and fled overseas; Zheng He’s fleets were dispatched to hunt him down.

What if the Emperor made it further than Zheng could have dreamed?

Hello, and welcome back to my coverage of Europa Universalis IV. Since I last wrote about EU4, it has received a further two expansions – El Dorado, which added a custom nation designer, and the newly released Common Sense. For my current game, I will play as Meiguo, a Chinese custom nation on the west coast of North America.

This is Meiguo in 1456, 12 years after the game began:

Meiguo is an “easy” nation — I built it with 400 points in the nation designer. I gave myself an excellent starting monarch (5-5-5) and heir (6-6-6), as well as the following ideas:

Traditions: -10% technology cost, +1 colonist (cheaper technology will save a lot of monarch points, and the colonist will allow quick expansion in the Americas)

5. +7.5% discipline (I expect the Europeans to show up by the time I unlock this. Against their technology, I need every bonus I can get.)

6. -10% stability cost (never hurts)

7. +15% fort defence (the Americas are a large place and it may take time for relieving armies to arrive)

Ambitions: Army morale +15%

My plan is to colonise as much as I can, adopt European technology as soon as I can, and use the resulting combination of size and technology to dominate North America.

This is Miwok, my capital (in our timeline, San Francisco). I have invested some administrative points into upgrading its tax base — the “4” in the row of numbers (4, 1, 1, 6, 58) on the left-hand side of the screen — and I plan to build a fort once money permits.

This is Shasta, my second-most important province — its gold mine produces one-third of my revenue. I’ve already invested some diplomatic points in upgrading its gold production (the “2” in the left-hand row of numbers).

Siuslaw and the colony of Kalapuya mark my northern border. To their north are the Chinook and my vassals, the Salish. The war against the Salish was closer than it should have been; overconfidence doesn’t pay!

My vision extends all the way east across North America…

… and southeast into Central America:

Back in Asia, Ming China has already disintegrated:

I expect my first century to be very easy — none of my neighbours is large or technologically advanced enough to be a threat. The real danger will come when the Europeans show up. Until then, I look forward to a nice, relaxing game!

Paradox supplied review copies of Europa Universalis IV and the Conquest of Paradise and Wealth of Nations DLCs. I bought the subsequent DLCs out of my pocket.